My dh suprises me every once in awhile. The last time it was a kitten no bigger than a minute that we had to raise with a syringe until she could eat solids. We still have her. Yesterday it was baby birds. Dh is a carpenter and his company is doing some demolishion and remodeling. He found a nest in the building that they are tearing down. With no place to put the babies he brought them home. He called me last night so proud of himself. " I brought home a biology lesson" he said.:lol: The girls absolutly love them. I looked bird rescue up online and it couldn't be easier for these little ones. Just soak some dog food in water until mushey and feed them with some tweezers. As soon as I find my camera I will post some pictures.
HOw cool! don't you just love it when they bring things home? hehe What a super unit study you have now! math-- how often do you feed, how many hours between etc, you could chart it! how much they eat, if it increases over weeks etc. Measure growth too! Science, of course, What kind of bird are they etc? What is thier wing span? when do they fly? etc etc! I am sure you are up on all that! How cool!
That sounds like a wonderful opportunity! It isn't everyday kids can see baby birds up close. Have fun with this project and do post some pictures if you can.
Heh... I wonder if there's a momma bird out there somewhere thinking, "now I know I left them right here". I'm sorry, I just got a really funny picture in my head over that one.
LOL, I can so see that in my head too! But what a cool experience for the kids! We have a robin's nest in the tree right outside our livingroom window. My boy sspend time each day watching the mama birdy bring food for the babies.
You can also use a syringe to put the food in their mouths. Looking forward to pics. When they realize you are their "mommy" when they see you they will get excited. :love:
That is very cool. My husband brought home a tarantula last November and it has been so cool to watch and learn about her. One of Sam's nature science books this fall is called Life of the Spider and has the whole first chapter on tarantuals! I can't wait to see your pictures!
I don't want to rain on your party.. and maybe I may not be, but some birds are protected and it is illegal to raise them yourself. We had a blue bird fall out of his nest this spring, and we started searching and found not only would it be pretty much impossible to get the birds mouth to open (and not to feed it anything except small meal worms and such), that it was actually illegal to try to care for this baby bird. I found a number for a rescue and they said to put him back up in the box (nest) and the mommy and daddy bird (yes both care for this little guy) would be thankful to us for returning their little bundle. We did and he has since grown and left and a new little one is in there now.. they seem to only lay one egg at a time. This is the second year that we have had the same pair of blue birds living in this little bird house Garrett build as a carpentry project.
wow I didn't knwo they had laws about saving animals, we do have a rescue place here but ..wow, illegal to save and animal that is just bazaar!
And the laws on rescue places are pretty much insane. I didn't say anything because I just assumed the babies were robins or the like. Some good friend's of mine are a family of falconers. They do bird rescue for several different species. They were in town for our 4th of July parade but the state game board would't let them walk in the parade with one of the birds. It wasn't educational enough. They are only allowed to keep the birds in certain conditions (never in their personal dwelling) and only for a certain length of time. Unless a bird is disabled in some way that will prevent it from ever surviving on it's own, they have to rehabilitate (or raise) the bird with the goal of releasing it. I'll never forget the first release I attended. It was for a bird that they'd been caring for for 3 years. It was quite emotional for them to send their baby out into the wild. They even invited their pastor out into the woods with us to pray over the bird. I still tear up a little when I remember it. It was amazing. I digress..... I would do as Sommer suggested and really check into what type of birds they are and what the laws are about them. Apparently, even things as common as Jays are protected.
Just a little FYI.. we do have blue jays around here too.. but I was talking about blue birds.. they are the cutest little birds I have ever seen.. they aren't much bigger than a finch and are blue with a pinkish red breast. If you want to attract them you should put a small house out for them.. but it needs to not be on or near a tree. Ours is on a post in our yard.
No rain yet. In my research I haven't found anything to indicate that these birds are illegal. The building the nest was in is being torn down and there was no place else to move the nest to. We are raising them with the intent of release as soon as they can fly.:angel: They are also very good eaters. I did research online as to what to feed them and we are following all instructions.
